Connecting an inverter

[Fred Mc]

I?m installing a 1500w  xantrax inverter and am using a small plug in gauge to tell me if I have the wiring right. It has 2 yellow and one red light. There are various combinations of red and yellow but I have all 3 lites on. There is no combination for that. I have 110v with hot and neutral and 85 from hot or neutral to ground. Anyone know what?s happening. There is ground to the chassis both at the plug and at the inverter.

Regards
Fred

Fr

[richard5933]

Never seen all three lights on with mine, and looking online don't see that as an option. Have you verified that the tester is working by plugging it into a known good outlet?

You should have 120v spot on with an inverter. If you are using a digital meter and the inverter is not producing a pure sine wave though, it's quite possible to have it read lower than it should. Do you have an analog meter you can use to verify the results?

Unless I'm mistaken, there shouldn't be any voltage between neutral and ground.

Are the connections in the 120v junction point correct and not shorting?

[Fred Mc]

Yes the gauge works with other plugs( in the shop) I have a digital gauge that reads 108v. It?s not a pure sinecinverter.
You are right about all 3 lites on is NOT an option.

Regards

Fred

[eagle19952]

Were I you I would (if i understand) source the input 110v from a different source. This applies only if the inverter has a charger in it.
Beyond that I would verify the 12v source is fully charged.
Does the inverter feed a sub panel ?
Are you checking at the inverter or down stream in the house system ?
If so I would pull out all the outlets and verify that all of the neutrals are on the silver screw...and commons on the gold.

[richard5933]

If you don't have a pure sine wave inverter, then all bets are off when using a digital meter as the lower quality meters won't get it right with the square wave shape. I'd guess that might also be part of the problem with the outlet tester.

Using an analog or high-quality electronic meter you should get 120v between hot and neutral and 0v between the neutral and ground. Of course, this is assuming that no other 120v sources are back feeding into the system.

[eagle19952]

my Xantrex MSW reads 120v with a 40$ digital meter.
not all MSW inverters have a cheesy wave, granted it isn't pure.
not all MSW's are created equal. Trace and Xantrex are better than most.
in 15 years I have not lost anything to the MSW.

[richard5933]

my Xantrex MSW reads 120v with a 40$ digital meter.
not all MSW inverters have a cheesy wave, granted it isn't pure.
not all MSW's are created equal. Trace and Xantrex are better than most.
in 15 years I have not lost anything to the MSW.

Not all digital meters are created equal. Many of them can't handle the RMS and square shape waves. Yours does, not all do. BTW, $40 for a digital meter nowadays buys a lot.

[Fred Mc]

Interesting is that when I plug the gauge directly into the inverter I get same results as when I test it thru the outlet I have it wired to and the battery bank and inverter are completely isolated from the rest of the bus. Maybe something internal to the inverter.

[eagle19952]

Maybe something internal to the inverter.

Starting to sound that way...

[chessie4905]

Is this a new one or a used one? You have a manual for it? A possible mis connection?

[Fred Mc]

Just talked to Xantrex and they informed me that because it is a modified sine wave inverter the voltage will read lower and that the gauge I used to tell me if wiring was correct isn't applicable. They indicated the readings I got were normal.
Haven't tried a TV on it yet but did make a piece of toast(very important function) and ran a heat gun. They said a tv would be fine as well.

[chessie4905]

Interesting...

[richard5933]

Pretty much what I was thinking. There is lots written about this type of issue online. Apparently not all digital multimeters are created the same, and I'd suggest that everyone have an analog meter on hand for such things.